Oriental Turtle-Dove: how to recognise it
A bird of Europe, Asia and North America. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © 戴安國 · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Streptopelia orientalis
- Family
- Pigeons and Doves
- Size
- About 33 cm
- Habitat
- Woodland, parks and farmland
- Found in
- Europe, Asia and North America
The key marks
Scaly dark back feathers with rufous edges, a pinkish-brown chest, a blue-grey head and a striped black-and-white patch on the neck. Eurasian Collared-Dove is plain pale buff-grey with only a thin black collar.
Voice
A slow, soft, deep, rolling coo repeated in phrases.
Good to know
Northern birds are migratory, breeding in Siberia and Japan and wintering in southern Asia.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Eurasian Collared-Dove. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in woodland, parks and farmland. It is especially common in Japan and China. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.